By Ngala Killian Chimtom YAOUNDE, Cameroon | 15 June 2024 (IDN) — A new study has revealed an interesting fact about elephants. Like human beings, they call each other by name. Researchers analyzed 469 calls, or “rumbles,” from wild African elephants in Kenya that had a known caller and receiver. Using artificial intelligence, they found […]
WHO Concerned About Escalating Health Crisis In West Bank
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 15 June (IDN) — UN’s global health agency WHO has expressed concern about the escalating health crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, where attacks on health infrastructure and increased restrictions on movement are obstructing access to health care. “A spike in violence in the West Bank, […]
Climate Finance Tops Bonn UN Climate Talks
By Josh Gabbatiss and Molly Lempriere The following are excerpts from the Weekly climate newsletter of CarbonBrief, DeBriefed. BONN | 14 June 2024 (IDN) — Climate diplomats have finished another two weeks of intense negotiations in the German city of Bonn, discussing global efforts to cut emissions and protect people from climate hazards. Developed and […]
Far Right Sweeps European Elections
By Dr. Binoy Kampmark* MELBOURNE, Australia | 13 June 2024 (IDN) — The EU elections over 6 to 9 June have presented a chaotically merry picture, certainly for those on the right of politics. Not that the right in question is reliably homogeneous in any sense, nor hoping for a single theme of triumph. A […]
Is Democracy in Crisis or On the Way out?
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 11 June 2024 (IDN) — Is democracy in decline? If you talk about the quality of democracy the answer is clearly yes. The US, the world’s first and most important democracy—although at the beginning a limited democracy for white men only—is in trouble. Ex-President Donald Trump has brought old […]
Mobile Library, First of Its Kind, Launched in Democratic Republic of Congo
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 11 June 2024 (IDN) — If you don’t go to libraries, they will come to you. This is the concept behind Kitabus, a mobile library designed to promote reading to a wide audience. The name “Kitabus” is derived from “Kitabu,” which means book in Swahili, and […]
Disputes on Sexuality Shaking the African Church
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 11 June 2024 (IDN) — Leaders of the United Methodist Church expressed regret over last week’s decision by the branch in Ivory Coast to leave the union following the decision of the church to repeal a long-standing ban on LGBTQ+ clergy. The developments were the latest […]
Iranians To Elect Successor of Raisi from Six Presidential Candidates
By Ramesh Jaura* BERLIN | 10 June 2024 (IDN) — Iran is gearing up for a new presidential election to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who lost his life in a helicopter crash on May 19. Iran’s Interior Ministry has released the final list of candidates for the presidential election scheduled for June 28. According to Iran’s […]
South Africa in Uncharted Waters After Pivotal Election
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 9 June 2024 (IDN) —Thirty years after the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa finds itself at a political inflection point. The 2024 election saw a collapse in the vote for the ruling African National Congress which received only 40% of the vote, 17 percentage […]
Why Minimum Wage Is a Bad Idea
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It. ABUJA | 7 June 2024 (IDN) — I’m opposed to minimum wage. And I know I’m saying this at the risk of losing readers. The minimum wage hurts the poor and vulnerable in whose […]